The 40-hour workweek is on its way out

A majority of US managers
say they log more than 40 hours a week.Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

If your ideal job involves clocking in at 9 and heading home at
5, good luck finding it.

According to new
research from tax and professional services firm EY, people
across the globe are working longer hours than ever
before.

In a global survey of 9,700 adults
between ages 18 and 67, nearly half (46%) of managers
around the world reported logging more than 40 hours a week, and
40% said their hours have increased over the past five
years.

Americans have it particularly bad: 58%
of managers in the US reported working over 40 hours a
week. The only country where people work longer
hours is Mexico, where 61% said the same.

Compare that to China, where just 19% of
managers said they work over 40 hours a week.

Ernst & Young

The survey found that parents have seen their hours increase more
than nonparents. Among managers, 41% of full-time working parents
said they've seen their hours increase in the last five years, as
opposed to 37% of nonparents.

So it's of little surprise that one-third of
full-time employees said it's gotten harder to balance work and
family in the past five years.

In fact, while most people said they value
flexibility at work, about 10% of US employees who have tried to
implement a flexible schedule said they've suffered a negative
consequence, like being denied a promotion, as a
result.

Companies would be wise to rethink their
flexible-schedule policies if they want to retain workers. More
than two-thirds of respondents said they would consider quitting
a job if their boss didn't allow them to work flexibly.